Richard Branson: 'Capitalism has lost its way'

[Mike]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/nov/18/richard-branson-capitalism-lost-way

excellent comment embolded by me...

Richard Branson: 'Capitalism has lost its way'

Virgin entrepreneur and new owner of Northern Rock says he wants businesses to transform themselves along ethical lines

    Graham Snowdon
    guardian.co.uk, Friday 18 November 2011 21.11 GMT

Capitalism has "lost its way" and financial profit should no longer be the main driving force behind big business, says Richard Branson, the Virgin Group founder who bought the formerly nationalised bank Northern Rock.

Branson makes the assertion in the foreword of his book, Screw Business As Usual. In it, he says he wants to reflect "a vibrant and marked sea change from the way business always used to be done, when financial profit was the only driving force".

At the book's press launch in London earlier in the week, Branson said: "This may not be a popular statement at the moment so please bear with me.

"I truly believe that capitalism was created to help people live better lives, but sadly over the years it has lost its way a bit. The short-term focus on profit has driven most businesses to forget about the important long-term role they have in taking care of people and the planet."

Branson also offered words of sympathy for the Occupy protesters. "Rightly so, people all over the world are no longer accepting this short-term approach [to profit] and are demanding that business as usual changes," he said. Writing in the Guardian Work section, Branson outlines his vision in which he urges businesses to transform themselves along ethical principles.

[Mike]

Well thats a bit rich (pun intended) coming from RB!

I have met a number of people over the years who worked for (as Jeremy Clarkson calls him) "beardie" - including (on a meditation retreat) a CEO of one of his businesses.  The commonaliy amongst all these folks was how poorly Virgin group companies staff get paid.

So - a bit like Bob Diamond's recent comments - there is a large part of "pass the sick bucket" over PR spin and the rush to appear on the light side of the force, whilst still (as per Branson) keeping one's billions away from the taxman in tax havens...

On the other hand it is a sign of how the debate has moved that there appears to be general agreement.  The vital component without which this all becomes just the flavour of political correctness for a while is *change* in the system.  Words are cheap (esp from the rentier class comrade lol).  Seems to me the lessons lie in history - eg unlimited liability partnerships act very differently from limited liability companies.  In fact its this limited liability which makes possible many bad things ... no-one is personally at risk (other than in extreme circs)...